§ 15A-301.1. Electronic Repository. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 15A‑301.1.  ElectronicRepository.

(a)        The AdministrativeOffice of the Courts shall create and maintain, in cooperation with State andlocal law enforcement agencies, an automated electronic repository for criminalprocess (hereinafter referred to as the Electronic Repository), which shallcomprise a secure system of electronic data entry, storage, and retrieval thatprovides for creating, signing, issuing, entering, filing, and retainingcriminal process in electronic form, and that provides for the following withregard to criminal process in electronic form:

(1)        Tracking criminalprocess.

(2)        Accessing criminalprocess through remote electronic means by all authorized judicial officialsand employees and all authorized law enforcement officers and agencies thathave compatible electronic access capacity.

(3)        Printing anycriminal process in paper form by any authorized judicial official or employeeor any authorized law enforcement officer or agency.

The Administrative Office ofthe Courts shall assure that all electronic signatures effected through use ofthe system meet the requirements of G.S. 15A‑101.1(5).

(b)        Any criminalprocess may be created, signed, and issued in electronic form, filedelectronically in the office of a clerk of superior court, and retained inelectronic form in the Electronic Repository.

(c)        Any process thatwas first created, signed, and issued in paper form may subsequently be filedin electronic form and entered in the Electronic Repository by the judicialofficial who issued the process or by any person authorized to enter it onbehalf of the judicial official. All copies of the process in paper form arethen subject to the provisions of subsections (i) and (k) of this section.

(d)        Any criminalprocess in the Electronic Repository shall be part of the official records ofthe clerk of superior court of the county for which it was issued and shall bemaintained in the office of that clerk as required by G.S. 15A‑301(a).

(e)        Any criminalprocess in the Electronic Repository may, at any time and at any place in thisState, be printed in paper form and delivered to a law enforcement agency orofficer by any judicial official, law enforcement officer, or other authorizedperson.

(f)         When printed inpaper form pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, any copy of a criminalprocess in the Electronic Repository confers the same authority and has thesame force and effect for all other purposes as the original of a criminalprocess that was created and exists only in paper form.

(g)        Service of anycriminal process in the Electronic Repository may be effected by delivering tothe person to be served a copy of the process that was printed in paper formpursuant to subsection (e) of this section.

(h)        The trackinginformation specified in subsection (i) of this section shall promptly beentered in the Electronic Repository when one or both of the following occurs:

(1)        A process is firstcreated, signed, and issued in paper form and subsequently entered inelectronic form in the Electronic Repository as provided in subsection (c) ofthis section.

(2)        A copy of a processin the Electronic Repository is printed in paper form pursuant to subsection(e) of this section.

(i)         The followingtracking information shall be entered in the Electronic Repository inaccordance with subsections (c) and (h) of this section:

(1)        The date and timewhen the process was printed in paper form.

(2)        The name of the lawenforcement agency by or for which the process was printed in paper form.

(3)        If available, thename and identification number of the law enforcement officer to whom any copyof the process was delivered.

(j)         The servicerequirements set forth in subsection (k) of this section shall apply to:

(1)        Each copy of acriminal process that is first created in paper form and subsequently enteredinto the Electronic Repository as provided in subsection (c) of this section.

(2)        Each copy of acriminal process in the Electronic Repository that is printed in paper formpursuant to subsection (e) of this section.

(k)        ServiceRequirements for Process Entered in the Electronic Repository. – The copy ofthe process shall be served not later than 24 hours after it has been printed.The date, time, and place of service shall promptly be recorded in theElectronic Repository and shall be part of the official records of the court.If the process is not served within 24 hours, that fact shall promptly berecorded in the Electronic Repository and all copies of the process in paperform shall be destroyed. The process may again be printed in paper form atlater times and at the same or other places. Subsection (f) of this sectionapplies to each successively printed copy of the process. When service of thewarrant is no longer being actively pursued, that fact shall be promptly recordedin the Electronic Repository.

(l )        A law enforcementofficer or agency that does not have compatible remote access to the ElectronicRepository shall promptly communicate, by any reasonable means, the informationrequired by subsection (k) of this section to the clerk of superior court ofthe county in which the process was issued or to any other person authorized toenter information into the Electronic Repository, and the information shallpromptly be entered in the Electronic Repository.

(m)       Failure to enter anyinformation as required by subsection (i) or (k) of this section does notinvalidate the process, nor does it invalidate service or execution made afterthe period specified in subsection (k) of this section.

(n)        A warrant createdand existing only in paper form is returned within the meaning of G.S. 132‑1.4(k)when it is returned as provided in G.S. 15A‑301(d). A warrant that existsonly in electronic form in the Electronic Repository is returned within themeaning of G.S. 132‑1.4(k), when it has been served or when service ofthe warrant is no longer being actively pursued, as either fact is entered inthe Electronic Repository pursuant to subsection (k) of this section. (2002‑64, s. 2.)